WHITEFISH FISHERY OF LAKES HURON AND MICHIGAN 307 



same time (1930-19391. Further considerations of these more recent fluctuations 

 will be found in the next section. 



The take of whitefish was relatively high in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Mich- 

 igan 12 in most of the earlier years for which records are available. The catch aver- 

 aged 481,000 pounds for the years, 1889-1897, and was less than 300,000 pounds in 

 only 1 of 8 years (1890). The yield of 886,000 pounds in 1897 was the highest for 

 which there is a record. (The statistics for 1885 include species other than white- 

 fish.) 



Statistics of the production of whitefish in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Mich- 

 igan are available for only 2 of the 10 years, 1898-1907. The catches of both 1899 

 and 1903 were a little above 100,000 pounds and at approximately the level of produc- 

 tion for 1908-1917. The average annual take for 12 years within the 20-year period. 

 1898-1917 was 116,000 pounds. In these 12 years the production exceeded 150,000 

 pounds only once (1912) and was less than 100,000 pounds twice (1910 and 1914). 



An increase occurred in 1918 in the general level of production. The average 

 catch of the 8 years, 1918-1925, was 256,000 pounds. Production within the period 

 was variable and ranged from 131,000 pounds in 1920 to 443,000 pounds in 1923. 



The year 1926 was the first in an 8-year period during which the output of 

 whitefish in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan did not fall below 300,000 pounds. 

 The average 1926-1933 yield was 508,000 pounds, the maximum of 842,000 pounds in 

 1931 constituting the highest production since 1897. The increased catch in Wisconsin 

 waters of Lake Michigan in 1926-1933 corresponds to the high production in the State 

 of Michigan waters of Lakes Michigan and Huron in approximately the same gen- 

 eral period. 



The peak Wisconsin yield of 1931 was followed by a rapid if irregular decrease. 

 The average annual production of the most recent 6-year period, 1934-1939, was 

 171,000 pounds. The catch of 111,000 pounds in 1939' was the lowest since 1916. 

 Production was below the 1939 level in only 3 years (1910, 1914, and 1916) of the 

 42 years for which there are records in the period. 1889-1939. Probably the best esti- 

 mate of the normal take of whitefish for these Wisconsin waters is the grand average 

 for all 'years (1889-1939), namely, 295,000 pounds. 



Despite defects (inclusion of the catches of blackfins, longjaws, and Menominee 

 whitefish) in the whitefish statistics for the whole of Lake Michigan in 1879 and 

 1885 (in 1890 a separation of the catches of whitefish and of blackfins, longjaws, and 

 pilots was possible for the entire lake but not for Michigan waters; Wisconsin data 

 were taken from State sources) the data provide evidence, nevertheless, that the level 

 of production of whitefish in the earlier years was considerably higher than in later 

 years. The only information on the extent to which the whitefish statistics for 

 Lake Michigan may have been distorted by the inclusion of the catches of blackfins, 

 longjaws, and Menominee whitefish is provided by the data for 1890. In that year. 

 according to the Report of the United States Commissioner of Fisheries, the catch of 

 these three species made up 1,398,238 pounds of the reported whitefish take of 

 5,455,079 pounds in the entire lake. (Data were not given on the production of the 

 species named, in the waters of the individual States.) The catch of whitefish alone 

 (4,056,841 pounds), therefore, made up 74.4 percent of the combined output of white- 

 fish, blackfins, longjaws, and Menominee whitefish. 



If it is assumed that whitefish made up the same percentage of the reported 

 catch in Lake Michigan in 1879 and 1885 as in 1890, the following estimates of 

 production in these years are obtained: 1879, 8.951,000 pounds; 1885, 6,438,000 pounds. 

 To be sure, the use of the percentage derived from statistical data for 1890 for the 

 estimation of the catch of whitefish in earlier years is open to severe criticism. 

 Undoubtedly, the relative abundance of whitefish and of blackfins, longjaws, and 

 Menominee whitefish in the catch varied from year to year. Nevertheless, the pre- 

 ceding estimates, inexact as they may be. together with records for 1889 and 1890 

 provide strong evidence in support of the belief that production of whitefish in the 



11 For a discussion of Wisconsin's whitefish production in Green Bay and Lake Michigan proper separately, see appendix C. 



